Friday, February 20, 2009

Little Houses

Pete Seeger sang, "Little boxes on the hillside, Little houses made of ticky tacky".I'm making little houses, but they're not made of "ticky tacky", they're made from empty pasta boxes and cereal boxes, with a cornstarch box thrown in for good measure. I make Niche Lollie bodies from empty boxes, but these are my first houses, and I'm enjoying the process and progress, so I thought I'd share what I'm doing here on my blog, in case anyone else is interested in following my 'Little Houses'.The first photo is of the house frameworks made from pieces cut from boxes, taped into shape.

Today I ripped newspaper into strips, got wallpaper paste all over my hands, and covered the houses in their first layer of paper. I kind of miss the way they looked before, but I doubt many other people would appreciate their masking tape look. They're drying on the mantel, so I should be able to add more paper tomorrow. The second and following layers will go faster than the first.

I think I'll add a few chimneys, and maybe a birdhouse or two. Shutters? Doors? Little people? We'll see.

I guess I'm in house building mode, because I took the bits and pieces left over from making the pasta box houses, and shaped them into some tiny houses. These are only one or two inches tall. I've got all sorts of ideas for what I could do with them, but I'll wait to share till I've tried them. Wouldn't want to show my disasters, would I?

I gave my tiny houses doors, windows and roofs this morning, but they're not quite finished, so back to work.

I thought I'd hang each little house from a loop of colored string, but when I tried it, I didn't like the look, then I remembered wire. I don't know how some people can do precise wire shaping, but I'm excellent at totally imprecise wire shaping, so once I got a length of thin wire strung down through the center of each tiny house--the most difficult part of the whole house building project--I twisted and looped till I liked the look. I thought the houses looked a little bland, so I added a colored glass bead to the bottom of each one. I like these little houses. I've got several other projects that need finishing, but when they're done, I'm going to make more tiny little houses.

Hi Clarabelle!Nice to see you've come visiting again.All this thinking about little houses has shaken loose a childhood story about a little girl whose father travelled the world. From every country he visited, he'd send his daughter a room of doll house furniture. I dreamed of having a dollhouse just like that little girl, but of course it never happened. Maybe that story from long ago is inspiring my little houses today. Doesn't matter if it is or isn't, I'm having fun making crooked little houses.Kiss Lollie for me, I'm proud that she's a popular girl. ( ;

Love your funky little houses....I have always...still do ...love little houses....all kinds. You sound like a kindred soul....I am not content unless I am creating...just started putting pincushions on FlickrPool....name is MaryQuick39....but my name is Mimi Hanna....that was maiden name as Mimi Hanna was taken?? Go figure...the nerve of someone using my name!!☹ I also recently started a blog...www.mimiqsthings@blogspot.com...I will look at your blog to follow your ideas!